High resolution images in the Thermal infrared provide a way to detect irrigated fields, to measure evapo-transpiration
and detect plant water stress. Models and algorithms have largely improved to yield very good results. However the only
in-orbit satellites providing high resolution images in the thermal infrared domain (Landsat, Aster) are long beyond their
design lifetime. Furthermore, they do not provide frequent acquisitions (1 image every 16 days for Landsat and Aster,
while 1 image per couple of days would be required to monitor plant water stress). There is indeed a need for high
resolution and high repetitivity thermal infrared data for hydrological applications.
CNES carried out a feasibility study of such a mission on a microsatellite. The mission is called MISTIGRI
(MicroSatellite for Thermal InfraRed Ground Surface Imaging). The preliminary payload design was performed by
Thales Alenia Space for CNES. An instrumental concept was proposed which fulfils the mission requirements. The study
addressed both cooled and uncooled solutions, although a micro-bolometer detector was preferred after trade-off. This
paper addresses the results of the MISTIGRI payload feasibility study; it presents the mission requirements, the proposed
instrumental concept, describes the major subsystems and provides the preliminary performance budgets.
Understanding the nature of Dark Matter and Dark Energy is one of the most pressing issues in cosmology
and fundamental physics. The purpose of the DUNE (Dark UNiverse Explorer) mission is to study these two
cosmological components with high precision, using a space-based weak lensing survey as its primary science
driver. Weak lensing provides a measure of the distribution of dark matter in the universe and of the impact
of dark energy on the growth of structures. DUNE will also include a complementary supernovae survey to
measure the expansion history of the universe, thus giving independent additional constraints on dark energy.
The baseline concept consists of a 1.2m telescope with a 0.5 square degree optical CCD camera. It is designed
to be fast with reduced risks and costs, and to take advantage of the synergy between ground-based and space
observations. Stringent requirements for weak lensing systematics were shown to be achievable with the baseline
concept. This will allow DUNE to place strong constraints on cosmological parameters, including the equation
of state parameter of the dark energy and its evolution from redshift 0 to 1. DUNE is the subject of an ongoing
study led by the French Space Agency (CNES), and is being proposed for ESA's Cosmic Vision programme.
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